The premade container home maker Cargotecture now offers a prefab home that is a perfect way to downsize yet retain the comforts of living in a larger space. The c-series 640 Lookout model measures 640 square feet, and features a large living area with a kitchen, a spacious bedroom and bathroom, a media room and a lofted sleeping area for guests.

Tanya Shukstelinsky of the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem, Israel, came up with a totally novel idea for a micro home. Cocoon, as she called her creation is a thin, multi-story shelter, which is nestled between two layers of fabric. It is also extremely mobile as you can simply fold it up and move it at a whim. Cocoon came to exist as part of a project of creating a private space in a public area.

Paul Mason, the Program Manager for Campbell River Housing Resource Centre in British Columbia is the man behind the idea to build temporary shelters out of shipping containers for the homeless in the area. The converted shipping containers will provide safer and more dignified housing for the homeless by replacing the cardboard boxes, tents, and dirty blankets the homeless sleep in. Hundreds of thousands ISO shipping containers lie disused in Canada and North America. Turning these containers into eco-friendly, low cost and safe housing for the homeless and others in need is only logical.

Sukup Manufacturing is a small company based in Sheffield, Iowa, which primarily manufactures agricultural products, which includes grain bins. About three years ago, Sukup also began manufacturing grain silo homes to be used as disaster relief housing in Haiti following the devastating earthquake there. They called this grain silo home a Safe T Home, and it was developed in partnership with Global Compassion Network and Iowa residents. In 2012 a shipment of these homes was transported to Haiti where volunteers and residents built the so-called “Village of Hope” from the silos. Safe T Homes proved very successful as relief housing, and they are now also available for purchase in the US through Sukup Manufacturing. Safe T homes can easily be used as vacation houses, or even tiny sustainable homes.

Some years ago the architecture firm LOT EK completed an innovative expansion on the NYC residence of the Guzman family. The resulting 1500 square foot penthouse is made up of a transformed mechanical room and a 20-foot shipping container. The bedroom is located inside the container part of the structure, while the designers also added a patio, and now the whole penthouse has a spectacular view of the Empire State Building.

The transformed mechanical room serves as the main living area of the home, while the master bedroom was moved to the upstairs shipping container part of the penthouse. The bay window at the main level, which is made from the back part of the shipping container, was wedged into the south wall of the building. The shipping container bedroom was then placed atop this structure.

The Spanish architecture studio Abaton has developed a simple housing unit, the design of which was inspired by shipping container homes. The largest home in the company’s APH80 series, also known as Transportable House (Casa Transportable) as it is called, measures 27 square meters (9mx3m), and consists of 3 different spaces, namely a living room/kitchen, a bathroom, with a full, shower and a double bedroom, with a bed included. The house also has a gabled roof, which is 3.5 meters high and provides an added sense of spaciousness.